Huntington Beach ‘White Lives Matter’ rally outnumbered by counter-protesters
After April 4 flyers were found at Huntington Beach advertising a “White Lives Matter” rally the following weekend, a counterprotest April 11 saw skirmishes and arrests. Photos by DANIEL PEARSON, Staff Photographer
Originally, the morning of April 11 wasn’t much different than normal for Huntington Beach shop owner Gladys Juy. There was a little overcast, sure. It was a little cold for a Sunday in Southern California, but it wasn’t too out of the ordinary.
Even when hundreds of protestors materialized across the street starting at 11 a.m., some carrying “Black Lives Matter'' signs and some praising Jesus, Juy wasn’t fazed. She and her business Andes, a Peruvian arts and crafts street stand, had been on the same corner across from the Huntington Beach Pier every day for 15 years. Protests were nothing new.
Gladys Juy is the 15-year owner of Andes, a Peruvian arts and crafts street stand in Huntington Beach. LUCA EVANS, Managing Editor
But through the afternoon, they started to move near Andes’ collection of handcrafted jewelry. A few dissenting protestors, carrying “All Lives Matter” and “Trump 2020” flags, stood just feet away.
“It’s bad for business … people, you can see, are close, close (to) my business,” Juy said, as commotion from those around her gradually drew nearer. “(I’m) a little nervous.”
They got closer.
Twelve separate arrests were made April 11, after counter-protesters to a planned white supremacist rally and a few “All Lives Matter” supporters clashed in front of the Huntington Beach Pier, at the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Main Street. As scuffles broke out between a host of parties involved — police officers, Black Lives Matter (BLM) advocates and “White Lives Matter” dissenters — Huntington Beach Police Department declared the “unruly crowd” an unlawful assembly at 2:36 p.m., requiring attendees to vacate the area.
The skirmishes didn’t start until hours after what was planned as a gathering of appreciation for Black, Asian and other minority lives. The assembly was slated to take place before a planned white supremacist rally after reports circulated of propaganda and flyers advertising the 1 p.m. event. Huntington Beach Police Lt. Brian Smith told reporters April 11 that it’s unclear who initially organized the rally.
“Our information came solely from social media,” Smith said. “We attempted to identify an organizer or a leader or even who did the initial post, but we were unable to establish that.”
Najee Ali, a civil rights activist from South Los Angeles, stands next to a podium with his fist raised in the front of a Black Lives Matter counterprotest. JASMIN SANI, Editor-in-Chief
Community members took to a makeshift podium in the morning, sharing personal experiences with white supremacy or police and calling on allies to support one another in condemning racial, systematic oppression.
Najee Ali, a civil rights activist from South Los Angeles, stood near the podium with a single fist raised in the air, wearing a shirt that pictured George Floyd and was accompanied by an “I can’t breathe” message. Ali drove to the event with his friends after seeing it shared on social media from Huntington Beach BLM organizers. Just a week earlier, Ali said, he had returned from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to protest outside the courthouse where the Derek Chauvin trial is currently being held.
“If I can fly to Minnesota to speak out against racism and police abuse and injustice, certainly I can drive to Huntington Beach to speak out against racism in this community,” Ali said. “My hope and faith are in the young people … who see people not by the color of their skin, but the content of their character.”
“If I can fly to Minnesota to speak out against racism and police abuse and injustice, certainly I can drive to Huntington Beach to speak out against racism in this community. My hope and faith are in the young people … who see people not by the color of their skin, but the content of their character.”
As counterprotest organizers passed a megaphone to masked attendees, including a reverend from the Unitarian Universalist Church, cars honked in solidarity while driving past the pier and slices of pizza were dispersed through the crowd.
But as the morning rolled into the afternoon, skirmishes mounted. A man on the Huntington Beach Pier yelled “white lives matter” and was quickly surrounded by reporters and protesters. Countless shouting matches ensued between counter-protesters and dissenters that had found their way to the area. Flag-carriers opposing BLM materialized on the cross street in front of the downtown pier.
One man, Kelly Johnson, stood near Juy’s booth, clutching two flagpoles that bore American, “Trump 2020,” “All Lives Matter” and “Don’t Tread on Me” flags. He spouted false conspiracy theories about election fraud, sex trafficking and aborted baby parts being infused in COVID-19 vaccines before BLM protestors surrounded him, bringing down the entire 10 to 15-foot pole and dragging Johnson forward as demonstrators chanted “Nazis, go home.”
Johnson was seen moments later on a street corner, still surrounded, with blood dripping under his lip. Moments later, he was grabbed, pinned against a police car, handcuffed and arrested under charges of “carrying specific items at (a) specific event.” Johnson attributed this to carrying his flagpoles.
“I was assaulted by BLM/Antifa … and yes, I was writhing in pain as I got man-handled (by police), they tweaked my right elbow and tried to tear off my left wrist with hand-cuffs,” Johnson wrote in a text message to The Panther the night of April 11. “It is sad that you can’t be a Christian or a Conservative in our Country any more (sic).”
Minutes after Johnson was driven off, police quickly surrounded a small skirmish where protesters had fallen to the ground. On the street directly in front of Andes, meanwhile, attendees shouted at police, daring them to be arrested as policemen urged them to back up — eventually lunging to push them out of the street and onto the curb.
At approximately 2 p.m., Juy could be seen walking around Andes, drawing its green tarp back down over a collection that had gone largely untouched in the day’s chaos. It was “dangerous,” she mentioned briefly, to continue operating — a far cry from the passive event she had endorsed just hours earlier.
“This is a pacific protest,” Juy said, prior to the violence. “All the people — they have a right for protest. You can say anything, what you’re feeling. But … when it’s fighting, I get a little nervous.”